PADRES WELCOME JONES’ PETCO FINALE

For the simple fact that he has hit better at Petco Park than Qualcomm Stadium, Chipper Jones should receive a standing ovation. And a hearty farewell.

Or, from the Padres’ perspective, a good “good riddance.”

Over little more than the first half of a Cooperstown-worthy career that’s down to its last month or so, the switch-hitting third baseman used to throttle the Padres when they played the Atlanta Braves at Qualcomm Stadium, by unanimous opinion a vastly better hitter’s park than the vast Petco Park. Once the Padres moved downtown in 2004, Jones’ numbers on visits to San Diego actually improved.

But know this, too. If the Padres and most every other club have been worn out by Jones over nearly two decades, the feeling’s mutual, at least physically.

“My body’s toast,” said Jones, making his final trip to San Diego with the Braves. “I’m ready for it to stop hurtin’. It’s ready for some time off. It’s bittersweet, don’t get me wrong. I’ve been playing baseball since I was seven years old. It’s the only thing I’ve known.

“That being said, the walk in here hurt and the walk outta here’s gonna hurt. Everything in between’s gonna hurt as well.”

Jones’ spirits soar, however, with the love and appreciation showered on him since he announced in spring training that he’d be retiring after the 2012 season. The Padres welcomed him to town with the pre-game gift of a surfboard, presented to him by Trevor Hoffman. That was the day after Jones got a standing ovation when approaching the plate as a pinch-hitter at AT&T Park in San Francisco, historically one of the more “unfriendly” places toward him, to use his word.

“The (reception now) varies,” said Jones. “Whether it’s a gift or a video tribute, whether it’s getting booed when I walk up or getting a standing O when I walk up. I’m not very well liked in some corners of the United States. And more liked in some other corners.”

Jones’ professional relationship with the Padres has been almost entirely one-sided, save the fact that he was Atlanta’s third baseman when the Braves lost the 1998 pennant to San Diego at Turner Field.

Entering this series Jones is a .316 hitter with 24 homers, 74 RBI and a ridiculous .976 OPS for his career against the Padres, Jones played fewer games at Petco, but had more homers (7-6) and RBI’s (19-15) than at Qualcomm. Jones batted .301 at Qualcomm, 23 points lower than his norm at Petco.

As it happens, the Padres were the visitors for “Chipper Jones Bobblehead Night” on Aug. 16, an occasion that drew tens of thousands more fans to Turner Field than usual. Jones further rewarded the crowd with two homers, both struck off a Braves product, Padres right-hander Jason Marquis.

“The first one flying out of the park on Bobblehead Night, I’m like, you gotta be kidding me,” said Jones. “Then, on the second one, it was like an out-of-body experience.”

It’s been that kind of year for that kind of player, a .300 hitter to the finish. Forty years old, he’s had a 5-for-5 game this season and a walk-off homer that settled a 15-13 win over the Phillies. The kind of games, he said, “you can’t script.”

Now that it’s ending, there is something about Jones’ own Hall of Fame story that resonates in San Diego. He mentioned it himself, recalling the reverence with which baseball said its farewells to Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken during the 2001 season.

“You’re talking about two icons,” said Jones. “You think of San Diego and Baltimore, you think of two players, Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken. That’s what I can appreciate about those two, staying in one place, going through even the lean years, not wavering and not wanting to go somewhere else, just being identified with a city. That was something I tried to emulate.”